Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lukani Village Excursion

One of the main reasons for visiting Lukani was to see if we could figure out a reasonable way to provide water for the Dispensary and potentially use solar energy. We assessed the state of current water sources (both natural and pumps) by testing if the water was clean, tested the pump's function, and looked for any potential improvements.
by Alyssa Hennen

We are a bit behind on blogging due to our lack of internet access in both the villages and on our safari. Don't worry though, there is plenty more to come!

The Lukani group consisted of Ken, Adam (student), Alyssa, Kali, Kelsey, as well as our Tanzanian friends Heute (SPP) and Kwege (University of Iringa Student). After breakfast with both the K'Singa and Mtera groups, Lukani hit the road and made it to the Pastor's House after 1.5 hours of rolling hills and gorgeous farmlands.
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Here is an example of the landscape!

We used our pacing skills that Paul taught us in order to approximate the Dispensary's area for use in our flow calculations. In addition, we collected information from the doctor on how many patients there are, population of the village, and the amount of electricity needed to estimate the size of the system required.

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Here Adam is pumping water from a hand pump at approximately 20 LPM.

We assessed the state of current water sources (both natural and pumps) by testing if the water was clean, tested the pump's function, and looked for any potential improvements. Two of the pumps we visited were drilled too shallow and were therefore unusable, so they were disassembled in order to distribute those parts to other wells.

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This image depicts villagers disassembling one of the wells for redistributing the parts to working wells.

We had the opportunity to visit a nearby village called Pomerin that utilized an operational solar system for providing water to the public and buildings. This was a great model for us!
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Solar-powered water system in Pomerin.


One morning the students woke up bright and early to watch the sunrise. The 5:45am wake up call was definitely worth it!
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Lukani Sunrise.

Typical village meals consisted of: Rice, Chicken stewed in tomato broth, vegetables, and fresh fruit.
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Heute giving the students a lesson on making Ugali. Ugali is a thickened porridge made from ground corn flour and water. Traditionally it is eaten with one's hands.

We also participated in traditional dancing while the youth choir had practice. They let us join in on the fun, but found our moves quite comical. The songs were meant to welcome us to the village! On Sunday we attended a two hour long church service with the community. The service incorporated much more singing and dancing than most of us are used to, but it was a fun experience! Since everything was said in Kiswahili, we were glad to have Heute, Kwege, and the pastor translating for us!
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Heute inviting us to dance with the congregation during church.

Any offerings made during the service that were not monetary were auctioned to the villagers in front of the church. Ken was lucky enough to have the winning bid for a chicken! He immediately gave it to a widow in the village who was extremely grateful for the gift. In addition, Adam bid for bananas and gave them to many of the children.

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Ken with his chicken.

Stay tuned for more blog postings from the K'Singa and Mtera groups as well as some safari updates.